[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 155 (Friday, August 12, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49839-49840]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17369]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) re-approve the proposed information 
collection project ``The Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR) 
Platform''.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by October 11, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at 
[email protected].
    Copies of the proposed collection plans, data collection 
instruments, and specific details on the estimated burden can be 
obtained from the AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Proposed Project

``The Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR) Platform''

    Since 1997, the AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program 
has been reviewing relevant scientific information on a wide spectrum 
of clinical and health services topics to produce various types of 
evidence reports. A majority of these evidence reports are systematic 
reviews (SRs), which are used as evidence bases for clinical practice 
guidelines, research agendas, healthcare coverage, and other health 
related policies. Performing SRs is costly in time, labor, and money. 
Moreover, there is an increasing expectation of quicker turnaround in 
producing SRs to accommodate the fast moving pace of innovations and 
new scientific discoveries in healthcare. Some SRs overlap or are 
duplicated; independent teams of SR producers often extract data from 
the same studies, resulting in replication of work. Current methodology 
makes it difficult to harness and reuse previous work when updating 
SRs.
    In an effort to reduce the economic burden of conducting SRs, the 
EPC program undertook development of a collaborative, Web-based 
repository of systematic review data called the Systematic Review Data 
Repository (SRDR). The OMB Control Number for this data collection is 
0935-0244, which was last approved by OMB on October 16, 2019.
    This resource serves as both an archive and data extraction tool, 
shared among organizations and individuals producing SRs worldwide, 
enabling the creation of a central database of SR data. This database 
is collaboratively vetted, freely accessible, and integrates seamlessly 
with reviewers' existing workflows, with the ultimate goal of 
facilitating the efficient generation and update of evidence reviews, 
and thus speeding and improving evidence-based policy-making with 
regards to health care.
    Note that the SRDR system was upgraded during the last period of 
OMB clearance and is now designated as SRDR+. We will use the term 
``SRDR platform'' to collectively denote the various upgraded 
iterations of the platform.
    The SRDR project aims to achieve the following goals:
    (1) Create online easy-to-use Web-based tools for conducting 
systematic reviews to facilitate extraction of data from primary 
studies;
    (2) Develop an open-access searchable archive of key questions 
addressed in systematic reviews;
    (3) Maintain a public repository of primary study data including 
provision of technical support for repository users; and
    (4) Develop a process for making summary data from systematic 
reviews digitally shareable to end-users.
    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, Brown 
University, pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to conduct and 
support research on healthcare and on systems for the delivery of such 
care, including activities with respect to the quality, effectiveness, 
efficiency, appropriateness and value of healthcare services, including 
database development. 42 U.S.C. 299a(a)(1) and (8).

Method of Collection

    To achieve the goals of this project the following data collections 
are being implemented:
    (1) Collect registration information on SRs from SR producers who 
will populate the SRDR platform.
    The SRDR platform now uses a two-tiered categorization of users, 
and collection of registration data will depend on the type of user. 
``Contributors'' are SR producers who use the SRDR platform as a tool 
to support production of the SR and share scientific data from their 
SRs. Registration data will be collected from these users. ``General 
public'' users only view scientific data publicly available in the SRDR 
platform. No data will be collected from these users. The 
``Commentator'' category of users that were referenced in the last OMB 
clearance period has been eliminated in the updated system since no 
users have signed up to be commentators.
    All Contributors undergo a simple self-registration process by 
providing a password and an email address. Provision of username and 
institution information by registrants is now optional in the updated 
system. Collection of registration data from Contributors is required 
due to the technical nature of using the SRDR platform both as a 
database and a tool for assisting in the production of a SR, including 
providing comments in the various sections of a particular project on 
the SRDR platform. In addition, provision of an email address and 
institution information allows the administrators of the SRDR platform 
to

[[Page 49840]]

confirm that requests are being made by actual people and not 
potentially malicious software code such as bots and other 
cybersecurity threats.
    User registration will be used for administrative purposes only 
including communication between SRDR platform administrators and 
registrant users. This type of information will not be made publicly 
available.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate/use the SRDR platform. In 2020, 1,029 
users registered as Contributors. Registration will take approximately 
1.5 minutes or 0.025 hours per user. We thus calculate the total burden 
hours required for registration for all users annually is 25.73 hours.

                                  Exhibit 1-- Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of
                    Form name                        Number of     responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registration of users as Contributors...........           1,029               1           0.025           25.73
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................           1,029  ..............  ..............           25.73
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    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated cost burden associated with the 
respondents' time to participate/use the SRDR platform. The total cost 
burden to respondents is estimated at an average of $ 1,126.97 
annually.

                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                                                      Average
                    Form name                        Number of     Total burden     hourly wage     Total cost
                                                    respondents        hours          rate *          burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registration of users as Commentators or                   1,029           25.73      \a\ $43.80       $1,126.97
 Contributors...................................
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................           1,029           25.73  ..............        1,126.97
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2021, ``U.S. Department of Labor,
  Bureau of Labor Statistics.'' Available at: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes290000.htm.
\a\ Based on the mean wages for Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations, 29-0000.

Request for Comments

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-
3520, comments on AHRQ's information collection are requested with 
regard to any of the following: (a) whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of AHRQ's health 
care research and health care information dissemination functions, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of AHRQ's estimate of burden (including hours and costs) of 
the proposed collection(s) of information; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information upon 
the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques 
or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the Agency's subsequent request for OMB approval of the 
proposed information collection. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.

    Dated: August 9, 2022.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2022-17369 Filed 8-11-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P